MLR, 104.2, 2009 565 A Discourse for the Holy Grail inOld French Romance. By Ben Ramm. (Gallica, 2) Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. 2007. x+182 pp. ?50. ISBN 978-1-84384 109-8. A Lacanian model of discourse analysis shapes themain body of this detailed study. The analysis itself is preceded by a very helpful review of previous scholarship in Grail literature and a section establishing the theoretical framework thatmarks out this study.The main texts are passed under review in turn. The first chapter, focused on Perlesvaus, offers an excellent and lucid account ofAristotelian thought combined with an insightful analysis ofmeconnaissance and the failure of attempts to stabilize identity, issues which lend themselves well to this type of analysis. The second chapter, on the Queste del saint graal, excels when the focus is on the text, its ideology, and its context. Here the discourse analysis produces a provocative conclusion which, logical within the Lacanian framework,would make no sense at all within the historical context, namely that 'theGrail is a piece of shit' (p. 89). In Chapter 3 attention is turned to the sins of theGrail, with initial focus on Robert de Boron. Again the analysis of contemporary intellectual thought and of canon law is excellent. Here the theoreticalmodel works too,with the stresson theprimacy of the word making some sense ofChretien's condemnation of Perceval fornot asking the crucial question. The discussion of confession shows an acute awareness of this as an important issue at the time inboth theology and practice. In the analysis ofRobert de Boron's textwe see clearly that sinmust be confessed to be absolved, yet confession must be repeated, because sin is repeated, but this seems to ignore the operation of Grace, which is evoked in the text.The problematizing of repentance remains valid, however, and ismore subtly explored in the analysis of Lancelot's confession in Perlesvaus. Overall this study offersa challenging combination of lucid portrayal of medieval intellectual thought andmodern theoretical frameworks. At times the the ory takes over and the textsare used to illustrate the theoretical point. The analysis is at itsbestwhen the theory isallowed to serve the texts rather than be served by them. University of Bristol Marianne Ailes Les Traites d'obstetrique en languefrangaise au seuil de la modernite. By Valerie Worth-Stylianou. (Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 421) Geneva: Droz. 2007. 496 pp. 91.08. ISBN 978-2-600-01134-1. Valerie Worth-Stylianou presents the paratextual material prefacing the French ob stetric treatises of seventeen early modern writers (of which one is female and sixteen are medical practitioners), published between 1536 and i674.The editions consulted run to seventy-seven in all?a density of vernacular obstetric texts that is high by European standards. Part 1of thework sets out the academic avenues that may be explored via thematerial that Worth-Stylianou has collated. The publishing history of the treatises, presented in tabular form, lies at the centre of this section. It is framed by contextualizing material: on obstetric treatises prior to 1536; on reader preferences for Latin/ancient textual authorities or French/contemporary textual authorities; on the ideologies informing the decision of experts towrite in French; ...